The Father I Wish I Had
by Burning Phoenix
Summary: Ok this is my version of how Gibbs met Tony. Oh and a lot of this stuff I just made up on the spur of the moment. And I do not own NCIS or Gibbs or Tony, no matter how much I wish I did.
1. Chapter 1

The Father I Wish I Had

Chapter 1

13-year-old Anthony DiNozzo walked quietly down the street, kicking a can that lay in his path. He had been in Washington D.C. for about a week and his dear old dad still didn't realize or care that he had left him. At first Tony hadn't cared much, after all, he hated his dad as much as his dad hated him. But now he was starting to get bored. After all, there was only so much a 13 year old could do by himself. Tony let out a sigh and glanced at his watch, which read 10:37 pm.

_I knew I should have just called in the pizza._

Suddenly Tony's musings were halted as he heard the sound of raised and angry voices coming from the alley across the street. Tony wondered if he should just keep going but his curiosity got the better of him and he quickly walked across the street and made his way to the back of the alley. Slowly he crouched behind a dumpster and looked around, before he spotted four people at the back. Two of the guys had a third by the arms and the fourth proceeded to beat the crap out of the guy in the middle. After a few minutes, the fourth man stopped and leaned down to say something to the unresponsive man, before straightening up and, pulling out a gun, he shot the beaten man.

Thud Thud 

Tony watched as the man fell to the ground, his blood slowly pooling out onto the concrete. As quietly as he could, Tony stood and backed away from the dumpster, a million different thoughts running through his head. Unfortunately, he forgot about the boxes stacked behind him. Before he could stop himself, he fell over the boxes, causing more noise than he would have liked. Quickly, he threw one of the boxes off of him just in time to see the three men coming towards him. Before he knew it he was up and running in the opposite direction. He ran as quickly as he could, then he spotted a local hotel. He sprinted across the street and pushed open the doors, making his way to the hotel service desk.

"I really need to use your phone! It's an emergency!" The lady behind the desk looked up in his direction before smiling slightly.

"Go ahead." She said, pointing with her pen at the pone. Tony grabbed at the phone, dialed 911 and then waited for someone to pick up. He turned back to the doors and his blood ran cold as he spotted one of the men standing on the other side of the door.

"911, what is your emergency?"

"I just saw some guy shoots someone. There were three guys and they were beating this other guy up and then they shot him and…"

"What's the address where the shooting took place?"

Tony thought for a moment and then turned to the receptionist, who was watching him intently. "What's this hotel's address?"

Quickly the woman wrote it down and handed it to him. "1243 Vaughn Avenue, it's the Preston Hotel."

"Alright, we have a unit headed that way. Just stay where you are."

"Alright." Tony hung up the phone, and went over to one of the chairs, taking a seat as close to the service desk as he could.

And he waited.

NCISNCISNCISNCISNCIS

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs looked over the crime scene in front of him, as he waited for Ducky to arrive. Suddenly he turned and made his way to one of the local police.

"What did you find out?"

"Nothing yet. The only witness, a 13 year old boy, hasn't said a damn thing since we got here." The cop motioned over to one of the police cars, where the boy sat on the trunk. Gibbs noticed that he kept looking around nervously, as if he expected something to happen. Slowly He made his way over to the kid, sitting down next to him without saying a word. After a few seconds Tony looks over at him, wondering what kind of cop he was.

"You don't look much like a cop." There was a pause. "You're a Fed aren't you?"

Gibbs smiled slightly as he turned towards the kid next to him. "Yes I am."

"You definitely don't look like one of those FBI stiffs." Gibbs chuckled at the kids obvious dislike of the FBI.

"Nope. NCIS. You know what that stands for?"

Tony looked off in the direction of the dead body and then back at Gibbs. "Not exactly but I know it has to do with the Navy."

"How'd you figure that out?"

"Cause they said that guy was a dead Navy Lieutenant. NCIS starts with an N and I bet I have a pretty good guess at what the rest stands for." Tony looked back in the direction of the body and back at Gibbs again, as if to make sure that he was right. Gibbs smiled as he held out his hand.

"Special Agent Gibbs." Tony hesitated half a second before he took the offered hand. "Tony DiNozzo."

"Short for Anthony?" Gibbs asked.

Tony made a face before he replied. "Yeah but I hate it when people call me that." Gibbs smiled at that. He could understand, after all, he didn't go around telling everyone his first name.

"Well Tony, do you feel up to telling me what you saw?" Tony looked at him for a second and then turned away.

"I was headed to the pizza place up the street from here when I heard some raised voices. I was gonna keep going but then I decided to check it out. When I got there I saw these two guys holding that Navy guy by the arms and a third was beating him up. After a few minutes he stopped and leaned over. It looked like he was telling him something. Then he straightened up and pulled out a gun and shot him. I think he was using a silencer because all I heard was a soft thud sound. I freaked out and tried to sneak away but I ran into some boxes. They heard me and started to come towards me but I managed to get up in time and ran to the hotel over there."

All through the telling of what happened, Gibbs noticed that Tony continued to look around every once in a while, and it was then that Gibbs realized what was bothering the kid. He was afraid that the men responsible for the murder would come after him too because he had seen what had happened.

"Where are you staying?" Gibbs asked, intent on sending someone back with Tony to watch him.

"At the Hilton, a few blocks back that way." He pointed in the general direction behind them.

"Come on, I'll take you back and explain what's going on to your parents." Gibbs made to get up but stopped at the look on Tony's face.

"My parents are here." He said quietly.

"Then who are you staying with?"

"No one." Tony took a deep breath, wondering how much he should actually tell this guy. After all, he barely knew him. But something in Tony told him it was ok so he elaborated.

"My mom died when I was 10 and my dad _accidentally_ left me here. He probably doesn't even realize he left me." Tony turned away, a little embarrassed at what he had just said. Gibbs watched him, and he heard the sarcasm in Tony's voice, but he heard something else as well. Pain. Gibbs sighed, running a hand through his hair, before he came to a decision.

"Then you can stay at my place until we find the guys who did this." He didn't elaborate as to why Tony would have to stay with him, not wanting to scare him, though he had a feeling the kid already knew. Tony turned his head to look at Gibbs, studying him, before nodding his head. Just then Gibbs saw Ducky and Jerald pull up in the truck.

"Come on, lets get you looked at. It looks like you messed up your hand when you fell." Tony looked down at his hand, realizing for the first time that he was hurt.

"It's just a scratch. No big deal."

"You're still getting it looked at." Gibbs watched as Tony slowly raised his head and met Gibbs gaze, the look in Tony's face clearly said wasn't used to someone giving a damn if he was hurt. Then Gibbs remembered what Tony had said about his father. His jaw tightened as he remembered the pain the kid tried to hide. Gently he grabbed Tony under his arm and hauled him up to his feet and, keeping a hand on his shoulder, led him over to where Ducky waited.

"Ah Jethro, what have we got here?" Tony watched as the older man met them at the back of the truck.

"Tony this is Dr. Mallard. Doctor this is Tony. He's the one who witnessed the shooting."

"Now that's not something a thirteen year old should be witness to. And please call me Ducky."

Tony smiled, catching on to both the name and the nickname.

"Think you could check him out Duck? He hurt his hand when he fell."

"Oh not at all. I would be happy to." Ducky went to the truck, getting out some alcohol and gauze pads.

"Now this may hurt a bit but I will try and be quick about it." Tony grit his teeth as Ducky poured the alcohol on his hand. Ducky wiped off some of the dirt and once he was satisfied he placed two of the gauze pads on the wound. Tony let out a small sigh as the pain slowly subsided.

"Alright wait here while we finish up and then I'll take you back to my house." Gibbs lightly squeezed his shoulder before turning back to the cops. After about an hour Tony woke with a start, not realizing that he had even fallen asleep. He noticed someone standing over him. He pushed down the surge of panic that went through his mind as he recognized the face in front of him.

Gibbs watched as Tony slowly woke up. He hadn't missed the panic that had crossed his face before he remembered where he was. For the second time since he had met Tony, he wondered what kind of man his father was. He obviously cared very little for his own son, considering he had left him here. The look Tony had given him when he said that he should get his hand looked at hadn't helped with the dislike he was slowly getting for a man he didn't even know. But something about the panic Tony had gotten told Gibbs that there was more to this than he thought.

"Come on sleeping beauty, let's go." Gibbs couldn't help the smile that played across his lips as Tony tried and failed to put on his best glare. Slowly Tony stood and followed Gibbs to his car, getting into the passenger seat and settling in for the drive, falling back to sleep almost instantly.


	2. Will Continue

Hello Everyone,

I'm soooooo sorry for the wait. My computer crashed and now I have to start from scratch on the chapters I had finished but hadn't posted yet. I am working on them now and will have them up ASAP so please bear with me. Again I'm really sorry for the wait.

Burning Phoenix


End file.
